Donna gasped at Cheryl’s unexpected action and the pain that pulsed on her cheek. Some of the guests who had been standing around gasped too, they stood watching the trio, wondering what must have let the wife of Jeremy Xiu hit a secretary of Ortho Speare.
“That was for raising your filthy hand to me at the boutique!” Cheryl spat out in annoyance.
Jeremy, in shock and annoyance, had yanked Cheryl back and away from Donna when she had slapped her. “What the hell are you doing?!”
But she ignored him and pointing a finger at her, she yelled. “And it is Cheryl Declan Xiu to you! You low-class breed!”
“Shut up, Cheryl!” Jeremy cautioned he tried not to let his voice be so loud but he could not control his anger. He looked at Donna and stretched his hands towards her to place on her shoulder when in all honesty, all he wanted to do at that moment was to pull her into a hug and walk out of there with her.
“Donna, are you alright?” He asked her. His hand never got to her shoulder because Donna moved away, not wanting him to touch her. Jeremy’s heart clenched, he could understand why she didn’t want him to touch her. He fisted his palm and brought his hand down, he could not leave Cheryl and walk out of there with Donna because that would spark a new kind of rumor and questions would be asked about the kind of relationship he had with the Ortho Speare secretary.
The media had gathered around them now, Donna now wished that the ground would open up and swallow her instead. She just wanted to curl up on the floor and fade away. She stared daggers at Cheryl and the temptation to rip out her hair overwhelmed her, but she would not reduce herself to such cheap play.
Without turning her head, she allowed her eyes to glance around and sure enough, they had become the focus of the event. There were five media personalities recording what was happening, three clicking away at their cameras and two women jotting things down. She knew this outbreak would be the talk of the city come tomorrow morning. She sighed and shut her eyes briefly and in her subconscious, she wondered where Keith was.
“Mrs. Xiu does know how to cause a scene wherever she happens to be.” Keith stepped in. He had a death stare at Cheryl and refused to break his gaze away from her. “Perhaps she should be kept on a leash until she is properly trained on how to behave in public spaces.”
Donna’s eyes shot open and she glanced up at Keith who had come to stand beside her. He had one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing his right eyebrow. She moved her gaze from Keith to Cheryl who had now managed to step a little behind Jeremy, she didn’t look at Keith and she didn’t look at her either but her gaze was on the floor. Donna blinked in confusion, she had known Cheryl to be a wild cat, acting irrationally and without fear of the consequences but now it seemed she was afraid… of Keith?
Jeremy frowned, he might not have approved of Cheryl raising a hand to Donna but neither could he stand her being insulted, she was unfortunately his wife and an insult to her would rub off on him as well. “You should not interfere Mr. Preston.”
“Oh, but I should.” Keith shifted his attention to Jeremy as he addressed him, the expression on his face unchanging. “An employee of mine was just insulted by Mrs. Xiu here in front of everyone for no apparent reason other than some childish revenge and you are of the opinion that I should not interfere?”
Jeremy looked at Donna who had gone silent after Cheryl had hit her, he felt sad and in pain watching her soak in all the humiliation and the very unnecessary attention she was getting from everyone around. “I apologize for her misbehavior…”
“I will never…!”
“Unacceptable.”
Cheryl and Keith voiced out at the same time and Cheryl looked at him with a kind of fear in her eyes as he smirked back at her. He kept his attention on her this time as he spoke. “Mr. Xiu, I commend your willingness to quickly settle this, but you are not the one who wronged my employee so I cannot accept an apology from you, it will have to come from Mrs. Xiu herself.”
“I will never apologize to her!” Cheryl snapped, her initial fear of Keith vanishing only to return a moment later and she hooked hands with Jeremy who frowned and eyed her before he turned his attention to Keith.
He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Then I say tit for tat, if you won’t apologize then Donna will have to hit you back. That would settle the scores in my books.”
“What??!”
Donna snapped her head up to look at Keith and she almost could not believe what he had just said. There was a glint in his eyes so she knew he was not joking, he meant what he had said.
“There is no way…”
“I didn’t say that to ask for your approval.” He shot at Cheryl and she went quiet instantly. He calmed a little before he continued. “Donna hit her.”
Donna’s eyes widened as she looked at Keith whose attention was on Cheryl.
“Mr. Preston?” She called his name in question.
He sighed and closed his eyes briefly. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Donna, you of all people should know how much I hate to repeat myself. I believe I was loud and clear and that you are not deaf. I said, hit her.”
Donna faced Cheryl, of course, she would not mind hitting her over and over and over again, but in this situation, it felt wrong. It felt very wrong. She looked around at the guests standing around and watching, the media documenting and taking pictures and videos, was Keith not worried about how this would come out in the papers and news tomorrow? She glanced at him again and he had the same grave look on his face and his attention still remained on Cheryl.
“Mr. Preston,” Jeremy spoke up. “I cannot allow you…”
“Never needed your approval too, Mr. Xiu.” He said, cutting Jeremy off. He turned his head to Donna and called. “Donna? Still thinking?”
She shook her head slightly. She turned to him hoping that she would be able to convince him to give this up. She knew how impossible it would be to try and get him to back away from this but still, she had to try. “Mr. Preston, the media, and the guests…”
“Cheryl, did you consider the media and the guest when you childishly lashed out?” He didn’t wait for her reply. He didn’t need one, he went on. “No, and see that is the difference between you and this secretary of Ortho Speare. She considers her reputation and what she represents, her public image. But you, irrational and dim-witted…”
Jeremy gritted his teeth, this was getting too much. “Mr. Preston, that is enough.”
“Do not interrupt me!”
“That’s my wife you are talking to…!”
“Does she know that?!” He asked and paused momentarily. “If she knows whose wife she is then she should behave accordingly! You allow her nonsense to go without consequences and that is why she has become like this!”
Jeremy went speechless, once again Cheryl had caused him to lose face in public. He closed his eyes and wondered how his father would respond to this if he hears about it. Cheryl’s hold on his arm tightened and he almost shoved her away.
“This secretary of Ortho Speare is better than you ever will be in all ramifications Cheryl and everyone in this space knows it!” Keith fumed. “Need I remind you, Cheryl, that you owe me quite a sum, first you rip a dress that had been paid for due to your greed, and now you cause a scene at an event because it just has to be about you.”
Jeremy turned to Cheryl, disentangling his arm from her grip. “What is he talking about? How are you owing him and what dress did you rip?”
Keith sighed. “You really should keep her on a leash. Go bring the car around Donna, we’re leaving.”